Books
Karam's Louisiana Back Roads and City Streets
By
Mar 10, 2010

Preface
by Douglas Bourgeois
When I first met "Bill"  Karam (as I have always known him), I knew him as a painter, though he often took pictures then. I had no idea that photography and print making would eventually become his ultimate medium.  Over the last ten years I had seen examples of his work, many of them snow-dusted winter scenes of Manhattan. They were great pieces, and I liked them, but when I saw the collection of prints he had carefully selected for this book, I was amazed. Three decades later and after numerous returns to his native state, he still maintains a close, reverent connection to south Louisiana. this is particularly evident in his images of city storefronts, majestic swamps, overgrown pastures, cemeteries and abandoned farm buildings between New Orleans and Kaplan.
The startling winter picture of a humble stump vine topiary, the decimated oak-lined streets in the lower ninth ward after Hurricane Katrina, a water-damaged filing cabinet on a porch: the ordinary becomes extraordinary in a work of art that most would think is unimaginable. He leaves the overly saturated, trite photos of antebellum homes for others that appreciate what they envision the truly deep south to be.
He sees what most are unable to comprehend and transforms the ordinary into something extraordinary.


Seeing is Believing
I have have never, ever, for one moment, taken for granted my vision.
Many of us look all around the world all the time and take pictures of what we "see."

After having grown up with all of the beautiful, romantic lush deep south Louisiana landscape, I became almost blind and stopped seeing things the way most people appreciate the naturally beautiful surroundings.
It was only until I moved to New York in 1980 and returned to my native turf that I really began to see more than meets the eye. I discovered beauty in the decadent. I also,  saw the crumbling, torn, devastated,  and ruined surroundings as a great source of inspiration.



About Bill
Photoworkshop member, William, a.k.a., "Bill" Karam is a New York based photographer whose portfolio spans over thirty years, beginning in his birthplace of Louisiana. Shortly after birth he migrated to his mother's birthplace on the island of Corsica and lived there with his French family, where he still visits and maintains close family ties.

Although he has been more commonly known for his black and white gelatin silver prints, he continues to paint and explore with mixed media. He now has reluctantly submitted and adapted himself accordingly, to the digital age and uses both . He is now exploring film making and has begun on his first feature documentary film. Some of his most recent projects includes work for the venerable American icon, Brooks Brothers and  for Target stores, as well. He has also contributed his talents shooting many artists, like Wynton Marsalis, for the opening night gala of the new Brooks Brothers store at Lincoln Center in New York. He has also created branding products for the new "Black Fleece" line of couture clothing by the  renowned, award winning American designer,  Tom Brown.

William has also spoken often at Apple stores in New York, on techniques using software applications for artist and photographers. He has previewed this book twice at Apple store events in New York City.



William resides and maintains his primary residence in New York and Fire Island Pines, N.Y.

See more of Bill's work here:
wkaram.photoworkshop.com

williamkaramstudio.com

all photos copyright William Karam, Jr.


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